Friday, December 31, 2010

On Dad front as Demon Child has been consistently doing better in school, is healthy and happy.

On husband front wife is driving and back to pre-seizure form.

On health front I would rate year as a positive as although I received diabetes diagnosis it was caught early, it seems treatable and I already feel better after losing a few pounds.

Poker was a loser for the year but it is recreation

I have given careful consideration to what I want to do for resolutions. I thought about setting a goal for running (5k, 10k or half marathon) or to ski with family this year. Realized I have used my weight as an excuse to not do a lot of things and it has caused most of health problems so this year there will be just one resolution on the list.

1. I will lose 52 pounds in 2011.

Not a resolution but I will collect bet from waffles when he does not net $10k in poker winnings.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The New Year's crowd started arriving in Lake Tahoe Tuesday. Average age in town dropped. Price to play in casino rose. It also started to snow, trip up in dry conditions 5 hours. Trip back with chain controls was 8 hours.

Temp in Tahoe when we were there was probably low 30s during day so returning to 43 degree Santa Clara does feel brutal, but lows in single digits next few days tell me we ran real well with weather.

Demon child had her ski lesson on the sunniest day which also saw 8 inches of fresh powder fall the night before. She got her confidence back with no falls (2 falls previous trip caused her to quit skiing after single run). She was excited and chatty about her lesson after and at dinner, wife enjoyed her day on the trails on snow shoes. They were both exhausted and turned in early.

I played a little call and chase poker in Harvey's poker room, I have no idea what kind of bet it must take to get take down a pot pre-flop as I saw people calling off stacks with 33-77 and QJs, I did not get many hands but did manage to be 5th caller to UTG raiser holding 99, 954 flop with 2 hearts got a lot of actionand took down a pot with top set against 2 flush chasers and 1 oesd when river 4 of hearts gave me boat to crush the two non-nut flushes.

I went up to room only to discover that wife a daughter were sleeping loudly, after hour of effort to sleep I gave up and got dressed and found craps table. It was amusing table as there were 3 young guys at my end of table who all rolled well but shared same quirk. None of them would take pass line odds when point was 4 or 10, Jason who was to my immediate left would also not bet odds on 5 or 9, he would bet full odds on 6 or 8. During roll where Ryan hit fire bet I asked dealer if I could place an odds bet for dealers behind Jason's pass bet 3rd time Ryan rolled for a 5. The other two youngsters were amused, dealers were more than happy but Jason thought that was too emasculating and finally placed odds bet (won 2 rolls later). Soon after my wife tracked me down, demon had told her "don't worry about daddy he is night owl". Since I had lot of green chips in front of me and it was obviously a fun table wife stuck around for a cup of hot tea, listened to Jason complain that I strong armed into betting more than he wanted and finally failed to cooler a craps table immediately. When dice came to me next I did pass and insist she wanted to pass as well and we let 3 young guys roll and wife and I headed back to room.

Last night in Tahoe I was forced to drop wife to 2nd worst shooter in rankings. A short asian woman standing 2 spots from stick managed to hit boxman with dice on 1st roll, had 3 rolls off table end and then managed to make boxman dodge another dice. Pit Boss had seen enough and issued warning "next roll on table or dice pass", she managed to roll craps or elven a few times making her dad some money on his horn bets before finally establishing point then out.

I set up X-Box and Kinect upon return and watched demon spend 30 minutes customizing her avatar to get it just right, it seemed so star trek next generation to wave hand to control things.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

We opened presents like a normal family. Daughter made snow angels on the beach. We ate together. But wife and I played 3 card poker and craps while demon watched a movie.

Wife was just going to watch until Kate on the stick talked her into it. I put $5 on the "Pass" for her and $10 on the "Don't pass" for me and said to Kate remember this was your idea. More to warn other players at table not to bet heavy.

Wife shook the dice furiously and fired, only one of the two dice that hit Kate hit the felt. 2nd roll scattered dealer money on far end but established point of eight.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

My little brother Mike is in the center. He is 6 inches shorter than me and was less than 120 pounds when he graduated from high school but has since ballooned up to 200 pounds. His similarities to Waffles are astounding most of the year , but he lives for Christmas. He does grow a beard every year and dyes it to accentuate the white and is a very much in demand Santa.

Obviously he does it for the attention.

Soon the Christmas season will sadly end and he will get less attention.

Demon child always gets giddy at Christmas and I gain my joy through her excitement. I worry that this will be the last year that she is giddy but each year she rallies. Last year was Disney this year will be in Tahoe so I will probably be offline for a week.

Happy Holidays(fuck the PC it is commercial rather than religous holiday anymore)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

After collecting my prize money I got myself a much needed sandwich. Terrible side effect of diagnosis is I eat less per meal but should eat a little more often and was starting to feel a little light headed.

Drizz (deliverer of 1st major final table wound) and I talked briefly, he still had a financial analysis paper to get done and asked me if I thought Don would deal. I told him I didn't think he would because he really wanted trophy and big influx into his bankroll now that he was back.

Drizz rushed back to table while I finished my sandwich where I learned that it was over and they had given Don 2nd place money, trophy and rest had split prize fund.

7 handed I would have probably agreed to those terms but I had 1 BB the only hand that was played 7 handed.

Headed back to IP at this point to meet Pauly and Iggy with Don and his celebration. Saawx Lover and StB and I decided life was too short to sit around IP Sports Bar listening to bad karaoke when I made my worst misplay of the weekend. StB had a nice roll and I failed to fully invest in the dip. His last roll I had $200 on the 4 but that was due to my nitty play of increasing bets. After the 7th 4 should have had $800, I also failed to leave until after a few shitty shooters (myself included).

I then joined Lightning for a very late inexpensive dinner and Josie came along. Although I lost the coinflip and had to pay I meal was cheaper than any of Garth's meals thanks to Lightbulb's senior discount.

There was some level of disbelief from them that I called Buddy from BB with 52o but holding 4 BBs, don't think it is right to fold to 1.5 BB raise. Especially at a level where antes were 1.33 BBs.

Did give Buddy a good sweat when I flopped a gutshot and turned a pair but Buddy rivered a higher pair. I still see that nasty 8 flipping over in my sleep.

We then moved onto other subjects:

1) Yes Demon Child knows that is her nickname.

2) Really she takes pride in it

3) Not publishable

4) Family stuff

5) Travels

I then headed back to Harrahs where an old Cowboy watching 2 young guys arguing with dealer about payoff summed up my recent feelings about craps best "$3, they are arguing about $3,

It is the pissants that ruin a good craps table"

I will humbly admit that I will never be able to say pissant so it carries the disdain that a Texan can say it!

Sunday at Legasse's Stadium was good and I made an impulsively large bet on Patriots but left money on table by doing it as moneyline bet after listening to Pauly's insights.

Wish I had gone on to IP for late game but Southwest waited until 70 minutes before scheduled flight to let me know it was going to be 2 hours late.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Recess let me know Tuesday night that he would have to back out of joining Gnome and I in defending title. Last year Recess had filled in once Schaubs bailed last year and despite being informed of snark potential he did not change his mind.

Fate decided Thursday at IP Pai Gow table that Garth would sit to my right and was looking for a team. If I had known at time that Garth's blog had become Top Chef foodie blog rather than poker blog I may have made arrangements to join for dinner rather than on team.

A historic Pai Gow hand occurred when my 98 defeated dealers 97 and my J6542 defeated the dealer's J6532, sadly I would later lose to a J9 Pai Gow with a J875432 which I set poorly. New Pai Gow theory once best low hand is 87 it is time to play 32 and pray for the high.

Douchebag Harrahs Caesar's Entertainment hit a new low while Brad, Speaker, G-Rob and I were playing $15 Blackjack at only 3:2 Blackjack table in IP. Pit Boss came over and changed sign to $25 table but did inform us that we were grandfathered in until the end of the next 6 deck shoe.

Early in next shoe 1st base got a black jack and dealer paid him 6:5. We had failed to notice that Blackjack payout now read 6:5 and dealer said payouts were not grandfathered in prompting immediate cashout from the 4 of us. To new other pit boss credit the payout was changed to 3:2 but what the fuck does that say about IP that obviously from dealer reaction this is not the 1st time that IP has made what I feel is fundamental change to the game with limited notice.

Friday I talked to a few bloggers in MGM poker room and was tempted to sit into $1/$2 game until Brad mentioned he was still stuck with ~$1300 in chips in front of him. I made the worse EV move of going to MGM craps table. There was a dude that I saw sign for 2 $5k markers who would do nothing for long periods of time then bet $2k-$4k on Don't Pass. I was amused at first as 1st time I rolled I hit so many numbers he decided to pull the bet off and make it a place bet which he collected, then he waited for next shooter. Unfortunately his douchebag son would come up to table occasionally and shout "SEVEN" when a bet was down. Table would thin out and I would move to different table only to have this dude walk up later.

I went by poker room on craps tilt and could not find any bloggers so wandered North to blow off craps steam. When I got to Paris I decided to give craps another chance. Overall had a good run and saw something I had never previously seen at a craps table.

A dude who walked up to a $15 table bought in for $100 disrupting a decent run using 10x$1, 6x$5, 2x$10 and 2x$20 that had to be spread out for count. Shooter crapped out 2nd roll later.

Stick shoved the dice to same dude who immediately grabbed 3 dice and rolled. Dealers and Boxmen looked stunned but stick smoothly shoved back two of the dice and said "The point is 16 sir"

Saturday I had a nice leisurely walk to Aria had a bagel not really feeling on my game for poker.

Tournament started and I got dealt hammer in 1st BB. The addition of the Hammer Challenge led me to try to defend for the $50 prize snapped me into more focused play and also may have led to Alan calling me down when I flopped then showed down the mortal nutz two hands later, 887 flop Alan was torn on whether I had pocket 7s or was trying to win a 2nd hammer and failed to fold KK (if he had read my blog previously he would have known KK is a shit hand in tournies). It has been a while since I played live poker so sadly my hand was a bit trembly when my 87 sooooooooooted had gotten a pretty good flop.

I won a few hands early with 87s but really did not pick up a premium hand at my 1st table but had chipped up with a few steals and some connecting on flops.

I moved upstairs to 2nd table where I could check on Garth and Gnome at adjacent tables and watched Poison deliver some brutal beats accumulating a menagerie of bounties and a mountain of chips. The AJ > AQ after AQ flop sent Mattazuma searching for gnad ice. With ~45 left BuddyDank mentioned to me that team Dank and team Roach were only intact teams left. Soon after a relatively short Numbono shoved on my BB and I called thinking my KQ was sooted. I was honestly shocked to learn that they were both just black but happy when I cracked his A rag.

At this point Recess received a text "Team Roach last intact team"

I heard Joanada busted next and checked quickly on Garth and Gnome. Gnome had previously been around 6k but had closer to 100k as we broke, I was around 30k and Garth was still healthy at 18k which was a little above average at time.

Garth busted about 40th and took his fanboy self over to Craftsteak for a Kobe beef feast while Gnome and I ground forward. CJ came by and mentioned to Poison that Gnome or I had to go for her team to have a chance at the Last Longer so I could not raise her monstrous stack nor armada of bounties off a hand, but did accumulate a few chips against shorties jamming my blinds.

Have no idea who the bust out was that prompted CJ to come over and congratulate Gnome and I on our repeat last longer. We did quickly agree Garth should have trophy. Soon after MiamiDon did make comment that Gnome and I would play soft against each other sadly I may have made a strategic mistake by informing him we had already been paid.

I also remember little from the ~ 3 levels it took to get from 12 to 11 to finally 9.

The dynamic of 4 teams still being in contention for 2nd and 3rd brought roaching to new heights at other table as well as staggering number of shortie river saves.

Final table brought an unfortunate A-rag loss to Drizz' JJ, Buddy's A-rag rivering me after I made a 4:1 call and Dawn 4 flushing me out on river when she was a must call BB.

Lessons learned from tourney are I like Aria poker room and although many thought wine bottle was cool bounty, not everyone likes red wine.

Grats to Miami Don for making field I left behind say 'no mas' and declare him winner.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Steeler's saved me or screwed me over as Troy Polamalu forced fumble when sacking Flacco I looked away and did not see I was dealt KK. I had a little time on timer when I noticed so attempted raise. But apparently my reflexes have slowed introducing a 2nd definition for a "Lightning Fold".

Dinner took 3 hours and was quite tasty but to be honest I would not say no to a sandwich right now.

My takeaways from evening:

Daughter is high maintenance her response to her mothers suggestion she not go after truffles, caviar or Foie Gras in future was "If he doesn't have enough money for bill he can do dishes and I'll call Daddy for ride home", thankfully she thought rather than having me pay to bail date out of dishes "It is up to his daddy to get him out of dishwashing".

Wife's driving is rusty, some of our acceleration/braking sequences at lights was jarring. I need to either drink more or less.

WTF did this meal do to my blood glucose??? Should wait 25 minutes to take a reading.